If the Shoe Fits
by distraught.hallelujah
Summary: You are now reading a lesson on how to write a good story, beginning with none other than the beginning. For the purpose of this experiment, we shall use a Cinderella spin-off Naruto fan fiction as the story line, because spin-offs are, let's face it, a lot of fun. You should be fully stocked with rotten fruit before beginning this book. I will be saying I told you so.
1. If the Shoe Fits

**If the Shoe Fits – Creative writing tips, short story, and Naruto fan fiction writing prompts by yours truly.  
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Prologue

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Once upon a time is such an overused title, which is why I don't use it. Yet, for some reason, if you haven't noticed yet, my book was begun with 'once upon a time,' even just so that I could mention that I'm not using it. In the same way, this story will end with 'I need an ending; too bad I'm not going to say something as cliché as they lived happily ever after' and poof, my story will have ended with 'happily ever after,' not to mention my ending has been spoiled for you. It's a sad no-win scenario. Even if I began the story with 'there once was a girl' you'd stop reading it because you'd go, 'I smell a Mary Sue' right?

And that's exactly why I didn't go with that. Yet, if I were to begin the story with an immense action scene to grab your attention, it would be easy to begin, but then I have to come up with a story for why our beloved main character was currently kicking some guy's butt for no apparent reason. Yet, by the time the story truly unfolded, you'd be yawning and thinking to yourself that 'I'm not going to bother to review this trash' and that is why I did not begin this story in that manner. By now, you are probably wondering when the story will begin, which brings into the equation my somewhat remarkable personality.

You see, my charisma has prevented you from realizing that the story, in fact, has _already_ _begun_, with a talkative and lonely narrator. I'll bet that was one thing you didn't see coming. Now, if I were to begin the next paragraph with 'she looked up,' there would be multiple questions on your mind 'who,' 'when,' 'where,' 'at what,' and 'why the hell is this author still yapping,' which is why, based on a technicality, I should shut up. Hopefully I have begun my story on a high note by sharing my beginning story thoughts with you, but if not, feel free to move on if my story has not captured your attention. You'll never hear the secrets enclosed in these pages.

Out of curiosity, why is everyone like that? I say 'secret,' and suddenly everyone's ears are perked. Have you no moral virtue? It's like spilling a drink on a boy at the beach and using it as an excuse to get his phone number. I mean it – it really is. You didn't think about that, of course, until I mentioned it, and are probably now considering whether I am an idiot or a Buddhist monk. I like to think I am neither, but rather a simple narrator trying to come up with a book idea and stalling for as long as I can. Stalling? What do you mean, stalling? I'm not stalling. What idiot told you I was stalling? If I were to come up with the best story in the world right now, you wouldn't say I was stalling. Ha! Here goes; the best story in the world—

…drat it, where the heck do I start?

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Chapter One

'Chapter One' is a good beginning to any story. Now, if you don't have a character in mind already, better make one quick or chapter one will not grab anyone's attention, much less that of a bright young reader. Now, for the purpose of this experiment, we shall flip a coin – heads would be male, tails would be female. I have a penny in my hands at the moment, but I'll wait while you get a coin for yourself. Hurry it up, will you? I don't have all day.

As it would happen, I flipped tails. What about you? Well, whatever you got, that's what gender your character is going to be. Now you need a name. I'll wait a minute while you go research Japanese names, because this is, after all, a Naruto fan fiction. On second thought, you don't even need to. If you're too lazy or are busy with something else, come up with an English nickname for your character and use that as the name. A flower name or random plant (Mint, Mustard; you could even use a mushroom, for heavens' sake) works for a girl, and you can just steal a brand of toilet paper for a boy. There – now you've got your character.

Now you go over the simple information. After the very basic gender and name, you'll need age, personality, and a bit of the background planned. You can polish out the rest of the background as you write – all you need now is a summary. Believe me, it's a lot of fun!

Once you have your character in order, you should think about what you want your character to look like. This is not as important as the personality, strangely enough. Your character's personality should be fun; otherwise you'll quickly lose interest in your story. Most Japanese have dark hair, dark brown or black, and brown eyes, but feel free to mix it up. After all, if Sakura and Ino are any example, hair color is unlimited. I happen to love the look of white hair paired with youthful faces, which means that yes, I do believe that Kakashi is physically attractive. Of course, I also think that Shikamaru, Kiba, and Neji are all attractive in their own ways, but enough about me.

So far I have a female character named Mary Sue, with white hair and blue eyes (blue is my favorite color. Plus it looks great with white hair). This is because she is your typical Mary Sue, which is the technically unofficial term for a super perfect character. It is surprisingly difficult to create a Gary Stu, which is the male version of a Mary Sue, which is why you should choose a male character if you are trying especially hard not to have a story with a Mary Sue. Otherwise, you could try having a girl who is somewhat mysterious, as no one knows anything about her background. This especially works in one-shots where you have a quick OC guest appearance.

Now, one thing you should always remember is that you can't please everyone. Someone somewhere is going to absolutely hate your story, however you write it. Everyone has different tastes. However, this is _your_ story. Don't let anyone tell you differently. You can pull of the world's best Mary Sue, or pull off a fantastic comedy making fun of Mary Sues if you like. You could even kill off your character at the end.

You're going to, of course, need a storyline. Think about this carefully. Write a few paragraphs on your story at first, and polish it off until you have the perfect story idea. Only then can you begin writing. You could start blind, of course, having no idea what keys your finger will hit next, but you may lose interest quite quickly and without warning find yourself with twenty unfinished stories lying around because you never got around to finishing them (like me).

I will write blind, because I usually do, but don't trust anything I say. Every book I begin always turns out to be humor, whether I started with horror, drama, cowboys, or whatever-else-have-you. I don't quite understand it. If you are the same way, whatever style you write, you'd best be prepared for that. Otherwise, you can try stepping out of your comfort zone. I have tried multiple times and have always ended up with humor, but maybe you'll be luckier. However, if you find that you write a certain style best, feel free to stick to that style purposefully.

Once you have the storyline set, this is your chance to choose a title and get a summary together. You can't just say 'I stink at summaries, just read the book' because if you can't be bothered to write a summary, no one can be bothered to read your book! The same goes for summaries with bad grammar. Grammar is very important – good grammar will make it easy to read your book makes for an engaging story that flows more easily. If you're using text speak, for instance, it will take extra time just to figure out what the summary says, and no one wants to spend extra time. Try to make the summary as interesting as possible, to hook the skimming eye. You could even take a quick excerpt from your story once you have pieced something together. The title should fit the story, but shouldn't give everything away.

I actually love stories with a single word as a title, but that's just because I love the look of a single, clean word at the top of the page. For my story, I will use the temporary title (which I would not usually suggest, as temporary titles stick like glue and the next thing you know you're stuck with it) and simply open a book from my bookshelf and point to a random word. This you can also do if you simply have no inspiration (yet) but need a title. In fact, you could even choose your title first and base the entire book on the title. That's also quite a lot of fun.

By chance, I have picked up the book 'The Chamber of Secrets' by J. K. Rowling, which is the second book in the Harry Potter seven-book series. I have opened it to a random page with my eyes shut, raised a finger, and let it fall on the page. Sadly, my word is 'Harry,' which I cannot use for reasons that should be quite obvious. I shall try once more.

'Without' – I can't use that one either. Sometimes you have to try once or twice, or even five or six times until you get a good word, but it's easier than thinking of one off the top of your head. 'Hairpin' 'lurched' 'nasty' and 'Dumbledore' are chosen before I reach an interesting word – 'shoulder.' That would make a good title, with perhaps some slight changes. My book shall be titled 'A Cold Shoulder.' Now I can make a summary.

I have no idea what would make a good story, but I have just had a brilliant idea and will now proceed to discard my character, Mary Sue, and instead proceed to cast Sakura as Cinderella in a Naruto-themed Cinderella spin-off. I think this will get very interesting. I start the page with 'If the Shoe Fits,' my new title, and add 'by insert-username-here' below it. I could do a prologue, but I choose not to. Now I neatly type out the words 'chapter one' and begin the story.

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If the Shoe Fits

Chapter One

Cinder-blossom (Sakura, of course, means 'cherry blossom' and is a popular female Japanese name; for the purpose of this story, I will be changing Cinderella to Cinder-blossom) sat back and raised a hand to wipe the sweat off of her brow. The hours of backbreaking labor from cooking to laundry to sweeping to mopping to fixing things and everything in between was finally getting to the poor Cinder-blossom, and the letter had arrived that morning – Prince Naruto had invited all eligible maidens, which technically included Cinder-blossom, to a ball at the castle.

"Cinder-wench!" called the petulant voice of Hinata, Cinder-blossom's evil stepsister. (Don't kill me, please. I really just think Hinata needs a turn being the bad guy for once. Honestly, give me a single instance where Hinata gets to be the bad guy and I'll recast her as a chicken.) Cinder-blossom stood up quickly and accidentally knocked over her bucket. Soapy water spilled over the floor, and Cinder-blossom wrung her hands theatrically.

"You're so clumsy," Hinata said loftily. "I need my gown very carefully brushed this afternoon. I'm going to the ball, and if I don't look my best, Prince Naruto won't choose me as his bride. I can't be having that, so get every speck of lint, dust, and mothballs off of my best dress, or I'll be making personally sure that your meals are cut in half."

With that, Hinata swept back out of the room, and Cinder-blossom's shoulders slumped. Not more work! At this rate, Cinder-blossom would never be able to go to the ball herself. She was just about to get back to work when the other evil stepsister, Ino, appeared at the door.

"Wash my Mustang," she called, tossing something to Cinder-blossom. Cinder-blossom launched herself into the air to awkwardly catch the small item but missed, then scrabbled quickly on the floors to get the car keys. (Why do you look so surprised? You didn't think Ino had a carriage, did you? Ino is a _modern_ evil stepsister. Anyway, she used to have a Cadillac before her mad driving skills landed that baby in the backyard fountain and she drowned the angel, but that's just how the story goes.)

"Y-yes, ma'am," Cinder-blossom said quickly. She looked down at the floor. She was probably done there, and the dress could wait, so next on her list was the car. Cinder-blossom eagerly hitched up her skirts and headed out the back kitchen door and down the lane to the garage where the Mustang was being kept.

She quickly opened the garage door, clambered into the driver's seat, and pulled the car out into the driveway. Then she got out of the car and went back inside to collect her bucket of soapy water and a pile of rags and got to work.

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^^ A line, as showed here, is used as a break, usually either showing that an amount of time has passed or that we are moving to another place at the same moment or slightly later. Here, it means a space of exactly three hours had passed, leaving Cinder-blossom exhausted as she leaned against the sparkling car.

She finally got up and stepped back to examine her work. The car glittered like a diamond in the morning light, and Cinder-blossom was so happy that she just had to take it for a spin. Cinder-blossom eagerly got into the seat, ignoring her wet clothes, and slid the key into the ignition, elatedly hearing the engine purr under her feet. As soon as the car had rolled out of the driveway, however, it was out of Cinder-blossom's control. She pressed button after button helplessly as the car rolled down the lane, picking up speed. Soon, AC/DC blared over the speakers and the air conditioning was on high, and the car was showing no signs of slowing down.

_Slam_, right into the fountain that had just been repaired. Cinder-blossom gratefully climbed out of the smoking wreck, paying no mind to the drowning gurgles of the stone angel, and then turned slowly, horror on her face, to look at the car.

Cinder-blossom burst into tears right then and there. She had ruined it – her stepsister's beautiful, clean, sparkling car. She would not only have to pay for it in work but get her sister a new one, and apologize, and it was too horrific to even think about! She collapsed against the bench and sobbed to her heart's content.

Then, without warning, there was a fluttery sound like a thousand bells. Cinder-blossom felt a light hand fall on her shoulder, and she looked up into dark eyes. Cinder-blossom's heart beat faster. It was none other than Cinder-blossom's very own fairy godmother, come to save the day in a gorgeous lavender dress with flowers embroidered along the hem and a lacy bodice!

"Do you have a wish?" the dark-haired boy growled, crossing his arms over his lacy front. "You'd better hurry it up. I've got Aladdin and the little mermaid next, and you don't even want to know what Sasori asked me for, the little puppet bastard. Like I'd go ahead and just make him a real boy, the way he asked. The nerve of some kids these days…"

"Who are you?" Cinder-blossom asked in wonder, clasping her hands. The boy sighed.

"Do I have to do the Bippity-Boppity-Boo song, or can I just tell you? Please say I don't have to do the Bippity-Boppity-Boo song," the boy said, aghast. "Apparently gender means nothing to those stupid authors. I'm your fairy godmother, Sasuke Uchiha," the boy said, with a deep bow. "Bippity, boppity, boo," he added as an afterthought.

"Oh, you're so beautiful!" Cinder-blossom recited. "I love your dress."

"Thank you," Sasuke said smugly. He shook his head. "Now anyway, hurry it up. I haven't got all day, so make your wish. You want to go to the ball and make Prince Naruto fall in love with you, right? With a wave of my magic wand… now where is that dratted thing? Oh, right, my sleeve. Here we go now – bippity, boppity, and b—"

"No," Cinder-blossom said quickly, blushing. "I wish for you to take my hand in marriage!"

So saying, Cinder-blossom took ahold of her fairy godmother and began to dance off.

"This wasn't in the scriiiiippppptttt!" Sasuke screamed as he disappeared down the road, pulled along by Cinder-blossom, and they lived happily ever after, the end.

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**Now see, wasn't that just a lovely story? I'm sure you thought the fairy godmother would be Tsunade or something, but then I really threw you a curveball, huh? Sometimes an author can use surprise to get their readers cracking up. You can always finish your story with 'The End' to let everyone know you're done, and make sure that the story is entered as 'finished' so that everyone knows. If you're lucky, you might just have people begging for more!**

** Now I think this pretty much wraps up my tips for creative fan fiction writing, so I guess that's all. Make sure you visit the back of the book for 'How to Not Write a Mary Sue' and plenty of Naruto writing prompts. Please visit some of my other stories if you like this one, and feel free to leave a review! In fact, please do – I love reviews! Please no outright flames – if you don't like my story, I'd like to know why. This is constructive criticism, and is much more welcome. Now I need an ending; too bad I'm not going to say something as cliché as they lived happily ever after.**

** … I told you so.**


	2. How to Not Write a Mary Sue

How to Not Write a Mary Sue

And Review Etiquette

My first tip would be, if this is most important to you, to perhaps create a male character rather than a female. Female characters are simply too easy to become Mary Sues. In fact, nearly every OC (Own Character) is a Mary Sue in her own way.

My second tip, if you really want to stick with a girl, would be to model her after someone you know in real life who is _not_ _yourself_. It is, of course, easiest to write a story using an OC modeled after yourself, but if you write her after someone else, chances are you won't feel the need to make her so special. If you use someone you don't like as the model, your character might be even less of a Mary Sue, simply because you're not trying to make her lucky or special at all.

The problem with Mary Sues is this – if you give her a horrible past, she'll be a Mary Sue, because she gains the pity of all the Naruto characters. If you give her an excellent past with a royal background, she turns into a Mary Sue. If she's an only child shunned by her parents, she'll seem like a Mary Sue. Talented ninja = Mary Sue. Untalented ninja who slowly climbs to the top = Mary Sue. Besides these, there will always be at least one person who thinks that your character is a Mary Sue, however you write her. You must be prepared for this.

I consider myself to be a friendly person, but sometimes someone just rubs me the wrong way for no particular reason. You might want to try using this idea and making an OC that you hate. It sounds weird, I know, but think about how much fun it would be to create and play a character that you hate? Try stepping out of your shell for once. Be creative.

If your character has a chronic illness or something that she'll die from in a few years, such as cancer or ALS, she will also seem like a Mary Sue because of the pity thing. Of course, how your character appears is very important too. First impressions in real life are, as you can probably understand, very important. First impressions of your book characters are equally important. If the reader sees a Mary Sue right off the bat, it may be upsetting, unless you use first person and the reader can feel like she is actually playing the Mary Sue and gets to be super special (which doesn't always work and may seem to some to be even worse).

Creating a Mary Sue is super easy. Creating a character who is not a Mary Sue is difficult, but I'm sure that with some practice, you can easily learn to write a fun, interesting character who does not turn out to be a Mary Sue. However, keep in mind that you will never be able to make everyone happy. That's life, and you need to be able to deal with it calmly and respectfully.

Everyone is allowed to voice their thoughts, even you. Look on the bright side – your books probably have a lot more positive reviews than negative ones! If you're willing to write flames (basically, a very rude review saying with unnecessarily-blunt honesty that you hated it) for someone else's book, don't get angry when someone writes flames for your book. This is occasionally referred to as karma. When leaving a review on someone else's book, you should take their feelings into consideration. Instead of flames, try some constructive criticism. Give them tips and pointers rather than outright telling them that their books stink. If their grammar is bad, suggest a beta reader.

If you enjoyed someone's book, feel free to tell them why you liked it. Did you feel that you could relate to the character? Did the book have depth, good grammar, and an engaging storyline? Praising people's hard work is a good idea. Try to see the positive elements in every story rather than the negative. For instance, upon reading a very bad story, you think, 'Well, the story was terrible, but at least the author spelled their names right,' but you suggest some things and offer a helping hand even though it was really not very good.

Constructive criticism, in case you don't know, is basically a polite way of saying that the book could be better. This is true of any book, no matter how good or bad it is. Constructive criticism should always be welcome, whether it's for your book or someone else's. Constructive criticism is giving the author tips and pointers, from the reader's point of view.

"It was a very good effort on your part, but I think that there are some things you could change to make it even better. For instance, have it looked over by a beta reader for grammar and punctuation. Other than that, I liked it." Above all, always remember to be polite and to consider other people's feelings. How would you feel if someone else flamed about your story? You could even stretch the truth a little bit, even if you hated it, and say that it wasn't bad but could use some improvements.

One last thing: I'd suggest not using Japanese words sprinkled throughout your story. I know you want to show off quite badly, and in fact, I have somewhat of a Japanese vocabulary myself, but it doesn't make much sense. Stick to just honorifics at the end of names. Because the actual episodes are in Japanese, this means your book has technically been translated into English. Because of this, why would they leave 'Arigato' in Japanese if everyone knows what it means? It just makes the book more confusing, so I'd suggest you steer clear of using Japanese unless your entire story is going to be in Japanese.

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And Last but Not Least… Naruto Writing Prompts

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Need some inspiration for a story? Try a Naruto fan fiction writing prompt! A writing prompt is usually a line or maybe a collection of a few sentences that are generally humorous (or, at least, mine are…). Your job is simply to take the line, interpret it however you want, and write a story based off of or using that line. Please give me some credit if you do use one of my writing prompts, because every line was worked for. When I have a line that has a / and another word, it's an optional line – you can use either word. I have five writing prompts for each named character, and plenty of extra random character goodness!

If you use any of my writing prompts, I'd love to see the finished product, so please direct me to your story when it's finished! A review is guaranteed! Please note; I don't read/write lemons or anything rated higher than T.

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Kiba Inuzuka Writing Prompts – it may have been better to start off with A and work my way down the alphabet, but Kiba came to mind, so here are a few Kiba-based humor writing prompts.

1. "Kiba, what did you do to your hair?"

2. Kiba hung on to the tree for dear life, but apparently his life/the tree had different plans.

3. Kiba very carefully slid the door open. Immediately it was shut once more, loudly and quickly. Shino looked somewhat amused as Kiba, horrified, mouthed the word 'fan girls.' Shino was sorry for his teammate, but there was nothing he could do.

4. "I'll murder him/her!" Kiba growled. "That brat bedazzled Akamaru!"

5. "And anyway, I heard someone switched out Kiba's shampoo for Elmer's Glue a long time ago. I'm surprised he hasn't noticed yet." "Oh, well. He will soon."

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Naruto Uzumaki Writing Prompts – for the actual character, rather than the series. It can get confusing sometimes, can't it? Well, here goes. If you want Naruto to be your main character, try one of these writing prompts to give you some ideas.

1. Naruto knew he was a procrastinator, but this was too much for him to take in at once. Even Sakura couldn't make him do it. He was not going to eat his first vegetable.

2. "Happy birthday to you, you should be in a zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too," Naruto sang. The birthday girl turned very slowly, and Naruto froze. Perhaps this particular version was best not to be used during Lady Tsunade the Leaf Village Hokage's birthday party.

3. How did it get like this? What was the cause? Why him? Naruto knew nothing except that he was hanging onto a rope dangling from the Third Hokage's stone face, and if he tried to move, he would fall to his death. "Sakura, save meeee!"

4. What was Jiraiya was thinking when he let Naruto drink sake? No one knows, but now Leaf Village has a drunken Naruto on their hands. This could be a problem.

5. "What is Naruto doing onstage?" Iruka-sensei demanded with slowly-growing horror.

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Sasuke Uchiha writing prompts:

1. "The next item on our list, for all you ladies out there, is one kiss from teenage heartthrob Sasuke Uchiha! And the bidding will now commence!"

2. Much to Sasuke's chagrin, he was put in charge of the Academy Graduation Dance decorations. This would be the last time anyone ever put an Emo in charge of decorations for a dance; that, at least, was assured.

3. Sasuke pointed at the ceiling, keeping his eyes on Sakura. Sakura followed his pointing finger, saw what was on the ceiling, and promptly keeled over in a faint. What had she expected? This was Halloween, after all.

4. "I am not in love," Sasuke repeated coolly. "I am simply in a state of chocolate-induced euphoria. Any idiot can see that."

5. Itachi & Sasuke Writing Prompt: And so began one man's journey throughout a village to find a peppermint stick for his little brother.

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Random Character Writing Prompts:

1. Sakura: "What do you mean Sasuke-kun is at the beach in a swimsuit? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Random: "Well, because every other female is already there. I was trampled to a state of unconsciousness before I was able to reach you."

2. Hinata/Naruto Valentine's Day crack: "Tell me… why is Naruto serenading Hinata?" "Oh, is that what it was? I thought something was dying."

3. "Apparently they're playing Hide and Seek. Shino's winning, and he's just standing under that tree over there. No one's noticed him yet."

4. Three words: ramen… eating… contest.

5. AU: Pick your favorite story and replace the main characters with the Naruto characters that most fit them. Or, even better, pick a popular fairy tale. Look how I ruined Cinderella, for instance – best two hours of my life. Make sure you pay attention to the list of authors that do not want their work on this site before you base anything off of one of their books, because you will have to give the proper author credit.

6. Pick a random noun or Naruto character. Now pick a random adjective and a verb or adverb. String them together. Ta-da! There's your story. (I got 'blue lantern swims'… okay, so it's not foolproof.)

7. Random word generators when all else fails! To the inter-tubes!

8. No one knew that Guy-sensei could play the bagpipes… or that he could pull off a kilt.

9. There was one incident, during a challenge, that Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei never talked about – it was called '_that_ time involving a girl, a white dress, and a pond.' As the name suggests, it involved a girl, a white dress, and a pond. The pond and the girl may or may not have mingled at some point.

10. Shikamaru & Temari crack: It's a cloudless day, but Shikamaru is feeling off and will stop at nothing to see some clouds; even if it's a cloud pattern on a pair of Temari's underwear.

11. Only now have I realized that number 10 might just be the worst idea to give a crazed Shikamaru/Temari fan. I guess it's a bit late to realize that now. Er… don't go overboard?

12. Ichiraku is out of ramen. OUT OF RAMEN! Will certain regular customers kill him for running out in the first place before he has the chance the make more?

13. The entire Shinobi army was in trouble – they were facing the enemy head on, armed with nothing but spoons. You couldn't even tickle a person with a ramen noodle, let alone strangle them.

14. ...Insert whopper writing prompt here for the big finale...

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Author's Note

**I had a lot of fun writing this story. Thank you for reading it! I hope you got some good ideas for future creative Naruto fan fiction writing. Again, I'd love to see whatever you come up with! A review is guaranteed! Feel free to let me know how this story helped you, or if the story cheered you up somewhat, or if this story somehow caused massive brain hemorrhaging from creativity overdose in the vicinity of your creative thought processing unit. Hopefully you took to heart my quick review etiquette… please no flames; however, constructive criticism is welcome! If you think I forgot something, feel free to suggest a topic and I'll see if I can help with an extra chapter on your topic. Thanks once more for reading!**


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